Sunday, February 26, 2006

Beer Bread

February 26, 2006

I'm feeling like a real baker now that I've started buying expensive baking accoutrements over the internet. The beer bread is the first loaf I've made using my new $50 baking stone, which sits in the oven for an hour before you plunk the unbaked bread on top of it. It's supposed to make the bread crustier. It seems to work.
Also, instead of a tablespoon of regular sugar which anyone has in their household, I used a tablespoon of barley malt syrup, which is supposed to be a better sweetener for bread. I seriously doubt whether that made a discernible difference, but it's more fun than using sugar. I use the word "fun" loosely.
The beer bread has a few tablespoons of whole wheat flour, and I now have six different flours lined up in my pantry, which I cleaned out last week and it's now completely devoted to baking supplies. The beer bread also has a bottle of dark beer in it; otherwise, why would it be called beer bread?
The bread was great, too. We took it over to our friends' (the Millers) house, and ate it, along with June's amazing dinner: pork roast with a mustard and maple syrup glaze, sweet and sour red cabbage, potatoes roasted with garlic, and a butter lettuce salad with pears, avocados, and candied pecans. June is a very good cook, which I'd say even if it weren't true because she's also kind of crazy with a knife.

I didn't know I was going to get braces when I started the project, but I agree--the braces and the bread probably don't go together that well. I don't know what I'm going to do when I make bagels--puree them?